Tank construction



March 10,;1959 I p MOLANE ETA]. 2,876,923

TANK CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. -30, 1954 FIG. .1.

v v MIME/V7025.

j I 1 PHIL/P W jl/ICLANE 43 /7 la/1455 C. Dyan/v United S TANK CONSTRUCTION Application September 30, 1954, Serial No. 459,232

Claims. (Cl. 220-5) For many military purposes, it is highly desirable to have light-weight, disposable, fuel tanks which can be shipped in a disassembled condition and which can be easily assembled by comparatively unskilled personnel utilizing conventional available tools. It is a broad object of the present invention to provide such tanks.

This invention may be briefly summarized as being concerned with tanks of the type indicated in the preceding paragraph, which include a nose section, a center section, and a tail section secured together by means of junction bands, sealant rings and fastening devices, as will be more fully described later. The precise details of the instant invention are more fully summarized in the appended claims forming a part of this application and are set forth in the remainder of this description of the invention and the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a fuel tank of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken at line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken at line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken at line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a view illustrating the method by which a plurality of fuel tanks of the present invention may be shipped in a disassembled condition.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings there is shown a fuel tank of the invention which consists of a nose section 11 having a rounded end 12 and an open end 14 which is attached to an open end 15 of a center section 16. This center section 16 is of generally cylindrical configuration and includes a wall 17 and another open end 18, this other open end being attached to an open end 19 of a tail section 20 which includes a pointed end 21. It will be realized from a consideration of Fig. 1 that the entire tank construction is comparatively streamlined. For this reason, this tank is particularly adapted to be used as a wing tip fuel tank for aircraft.

The precise means by which the ends 14 and or 18 and 19 are secured together are illustrated in both Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. Each of these sets of ends is secured together by means of a generally cylindrical junction band 24 which includes an internally depressed groove 25 formed so as to face the exterior of this band 24. The junction band 24 also includes internal flanges 22 formed internally on opposite sides of the groove 25. When the band 24 is used, it is placed within the adjacent ends 14 and 15 or 18 and 19 (Figs. 2 and 3, respectively), with the depressed groove facing the junction between the two ends. In order to seal the adjacent parts of these ends against the escape of liquid from within the tank 10, an elastomeric sealant ring 26 is placed within this groove 25 so as to bear against the adjacent portions of the ends 14 and 15 or 18 and 19.

The sealant ring 26 consists of ends 27 of substantially circular cross section which are joined by means of a center retaining band 28. This retaining band 28, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is designed so as to lie flat against aes Patent 0 2,876,923 Patented Mar. to, 1959 the internal surface of the groove 25, and does not project across this groove so as to be in contact with the adjacent portions of the ends 14 and 15 or 18 and 19. By virtue of this construction, the ends 27 are the only portions of the sealant ring 26 which are in contact with either the nose section 11, the center section 16 or the tail section 20 of the tank construction 10, and the portions of these ends 27 in contact with these respective sections form a type of junction therewith having the essential characteristics of a common O-ring seal. Thus, in effect, the sealant rings 26 employed with the invention resemble two O-rings held a given distance apart by means of an elastomeric member. Because of the precise sealant ring construction shown, the entire device may be easily and conveniently assembled with the sealant ring 26 being stretched around the junction band 24 when being placed within the groove 25. The use of the particular sealant ring 26 shown does not require any external structure on the tank 10 which might otherwise impair its streamlining. Because of the flexibility of the sealant ring 26, the particular construction shown is very resistant to vibration and is leakproof under virtually any conditions encountered, or any pressures which may be used within the tank 10. The ring 26 may, of course, be formed of any conventional elastomeric sealing material, such as, for example, rubber, neoprene, etc.

The junction bands 24 employed with the invention are secured to the adjacent portions of the nose section 11, the center section 16 and the tail section 20 by means of fastening devices 30. At the present time, a number of fastening devices which are capable of use with the instant invention are being marketed by a variety of firms. Preferably, the fasteners employed with the invention are formed in accordance with the disclosure in the Philip W. McLane application Serial No. 458,561, filed September 27, 1954, entitled Fastening Devices. Fasteners such as are disclosed in the McLane application are illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings and include bolts 31 having heads 32 and shanks 33 carrying pins 34 which are adapted to slide upon slanting surfaces 35 formed upon retainers 36 secured to the internal surface of the junction band 24. The pins 34 employed are adapted to be held within notches 37 formed in the surfaces 35 by means of small elastomeric O-rings 38 held under compression by edge flanges 39 on the heads 32, in grooves (not shown) so as to bear against the external surfaces of the nose section 11, the center section 16 and the tail section 20, as desired. Fastening devices of the broad category briefly indicated in this paragraph and described in the aforementioned McLane application are leakproof, easily actuated, and are resistant to vibration.

The construction of the center section 16 employed with the invention is somewhat different than the construction normally employed for similar devices. This center section 16 is formedof a single sheet of rectilinear dimension, opposed edges of which are secured to assem bly flanges 40 which are connected together on the external surface of the tank 10 by suitable means such as bolts or rivets 41. Within these flanges there are formed opposed grooves 42 (Fig. 4) within which there is disposed an elongated strip 43 of an elastomeric material such as is indicated above. It will be readily realized that by merely tightening the bolts 41, the flanges 40 are secured together in a sealed relationship with the construction shown, forming a cylindrical center section 16. Portions of the flanges 40 adjacent the ends 15 and 18 in the center section 16 are cut away, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, so that the junction bands 24 are in direct contact with the strip 43 and so that one of the ends 27 of each of the sealant rings 26 is in contact with this strip 43. The particular construction shown inparticularly vreflective and is, of course, substantially leakproof under all normal conditions encountered.

In shipping a number of fuel tanks of the instant invention, the fastening devices 30 are, of course, disassembled and the bolts 41 are removed. Then a plurality of the tail sections 20 are nested together as shown in Fig. 5. Next, the corresponding nose sections 11 are nested together within these tail sections 20. Finally, a plurality of the center sections 16 is placed around both the nested nose and tail sections 11 and 20, much in the manner in which a plurality of leaves of lettuce are found in a head of this vegetable. Conventional retaining bands or cratesrcan then be placed around the entire construction. If desired, the junction bands 24 can be located around the ends 21 of the tail sections 20 projecting from adjacent the center sections 16, and the fastening devices, strips 43 and bolts 41 employed with the various constructions can be packed in various containers, or the like, disposed within either the nose or the tail sections 11 or 20, respectively.

Those skilled in the art will realize that the specific tank constructions of the instant invention mark a substantial improvement over the prior devices of a related category because of the fact that they may be shipped in a knocked-down condition, and may be easily assembled by comparatively unskilled personnel using common tools without difiiculty. Further, they are extremely efi'icient for the purpose intended. Various parts of the complete tank construction 10 are particularly advantageous and are considered to be novel. As an example of such parts, the sealant rings 26 employed with the invention are particularly efiicient for use in joining the adjacent ends of two members.

The present invention, being capable of modification within the scope of this disclosure, is not to be considered as being limited except by the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. A streamlined closed container comprising: coextensive nose, center and tail sections; junction bands adjoining adjacent ends of adjacent coextensive section, each junction band comprising an annular band having means defining a radially inwardly disposed annular groove in the radially outer side of said band, and an annular stifiening means projecting from the inner side of said annular band; a sealant ring disposed in said annular groove and in contact with each adjacent end surface of adjacent sections; and means fastening each junction band to the adjacent ends of each of the adjoining sections.

2. A closed container as defined in claim 1 wherein said annular groove in each junction band is provided with a substantially fiat bottom, and each sealant ring comprises a double beaded elastomeric ring disposed in said flat bottom groove with the curved surface of one bead contacting one section and the curved surface of the other head contacting the adjacent section.

Lil

3. A streamlined closed container comprising: coex tensive nose, center and tail sections; junction bands adjoining adjacent ends of adjacent coextensive sections,

each junction band comprising an annular band, means defining a radially inwardly disposed annular groove in the radially outer side of :said band, annular stiffening means projecting from the inner side of said annular band, and the portions of said band on both sides of said groove being provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced fastening devices; a sealant ring disposed in said annular groove in each junction band and in contact with each adjacent end surface of adjacent sections, operatively connected with said circumferentially spaced fastening devices.

4. A fluid tight tank of knockdown construction comprising: a nose section; a center section formed by a single sheet of a rectilinear dimension in the shape of a cylinder and having assembled flanges attached to opposed edges of said sheet with means including bolts securing said flanges together and a sealant strip disposed between said flanges; a tail section; a first junction band joining said nose section to said center section; a second junction band joining said center section to said tail section; a first sealant ring between and contacted by said first junction band and adjacent portions of said nose section and said center section; a second sealant ring between and contacted by said second junction band and adjacent portions of said center section and said tail section; and means fastening said junction bands to said nose section, center section and tail section.

5. A fuel tank as defined in claim 4, wherein a part-of each of said sealant rings is in contact with said sealant strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 184,605 Finnegan Nov. 21, 1876 222,450 Brown et a1 Dec. 9, 1879 429,660 Sullivan June 10, 1890 1,489,274 Petty Apr. 8, 1924 ,549,721 Kraft Aug. 11, 1925 1,811,277 Mosley June 23, 1931 1,980,005 Seeger et a1. Nov. 6, 1934 2,169,516 Balfe Aug. 15, 1939 2,191,142 Greening Feb. 20, 1940 2,402,253 Macleod June 18, 1946 2,471,296 Allen et a1. May 24, 1949 2,648,454 Dean Aug. 11, 1953 2,673,659 Moore Mar. 30, 1954 2,686,609 Fletcher Aug. 17, 1954 2,756,893 Barrere July 31, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,895 Great Britain A. D. 1895 445,558 Germany Sept. 26, 1926 858,033 France Dec. 26, 1940 244,292 Switzerland Apr. 1, 1947, 1,052,703 France Sept. 23, 1953 

